'''Ray Comfort''' is a [[Christian]] [[apologist]] from New Zealand who co-hosts ''[[The Way of the Master]]'' radio show alongside his partner [[Kirk Cameron]]. The name, "Ray Comfort" may lead people to expect a ray of comfort but they get nothing like that. What Ray Comfort brings is constant struggle to live up to moral standards that no human being can reach. Then there is loss of self respect, fear and panic about [[hell]] over all inevitable failures.

'''Ray Comfort''' is a [[Christian]] [[apologist]] from New Zealand who co-hosts ''[[The Way of the Master]]'' radio show alongside his partner [[Kirk Cameron]]. The name, "Ray Comfort" may lead people to expect a ray of comfort but they get nothing like that. What Ray Comfort brings is constant struggle to live up to moral standards that no human being can reach. Then there is loss of self respect, fear and panic about [[hell]] over all inevitable failures.

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==Comfort's agenda==

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Ray's scheme is network marketing. The reason why he churns out books, shows, visual recordings and all that other stuff like a gatling gun is because the stuff is ineffective. It needs constant reinforcement, and the self-proclaimed street evangelists Ray sells to don't get that it's the oldest sales trick in the book. They get his stuff, advertise it to others, keep the ball rolling.

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Permanent conversion is not Ray's goal, his aim is holding regular customers. The provocative dumbth is part of the method. He needs angry and ridiculing reactions to keep up the image that he's the paladin valiantly battling the unbelieving horde. Since it says in the Bible that he's going to be hated and all that persecution complex stuff, his ignorant sheeple think that he's the confirmation. 'Read the Man Atheism Hates Most! Why, of course they hate him so much because they know he has Truth!' Ray's got it all figured out. Leave your scruples behind you, ground into the dust of the road. Find some country where there are a lot of gullible superstitious people, and '''$ELL!'''

==Way of the Master==

==Way of the Master==

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==Atheist Central==

==Atheist Central==

Most of his arguments against evolution and atheism really aren't worth the time and effort to debunk; he'll just keep coming back with more (or maybe even the same ones). This however hasn't stopped many atheists from flocking to his blog for a laugh. Comfort got so many of these types of readers that he renamed his blog Atheist Central.

Most of his arguments against evolution and atheism really aren't worth the time and effort to debunk; he'll just keep coming back with more (or maybe even the same ones). This however hasn't stopped many atheists from flocking to his blog for a laugh. Comfort got so many of these types of readers that he renamed his blog Atheist Central.

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The Atheist Central site is a beyond any doubt a site divorced from rationality, reason, academic or scholarly credentials, relevant information, and such. The sites main purpose is to draw in his regular customers to swallow the old repeated lies, just to continue believing in fantasy and delusion rather than accept observable reality. Another function for this site, which is very useful to Ray Comfort, is that he can take any post from an atheist, non-believer, or non-Christian, and use it in his books (he does this quite often). He does not have to leave a source, and often the quote remains anonymous - so we have no certainty that the posts are authentic. The quotes seem to come from godless lay people, and not from people with certain credentials or backgrounds (not that they are required). Finally, given Ray's undeniable history of deliberate quote-mining, Ray may have revised many (or perhaps all) of the quotes, or at least not post the whole post in its entirety.

==Beliefs==

==Beliefs==

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== Harm Ray Comfort causes==

== Harm Ray Comfort causes==

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Ray Comfort tells his followers to accept increased suffering in this life in order he hopes to avoid greater pain after death. Below is just one example of the type of message he gives.

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Ray Comfort tells his followers to accept increased suffering in this life in order he hopes to avoid greater pain after death. Below is just one example of the type of message he gives.

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<blockquote>But there is no Biblical precedent for a message of life improvement upon conversion. None. In fact the Bible says you will have trails, tribulations temptation, persecution. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RidZHDO8SMgC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=there+will+be+trials+and+hardships%2Bray+comfort&source=bl&ots=-Eu5V73XOu&sig=Fg0Z-R8iYbOwY9rVxOhurqCu960&hl=en&ei=AI2QTuGoOYW98gOKuIgP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false] </blockquote>

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But there is no Biblical precedent for a message of life improvement upon conversion. None. In fact the Bible says you will have trails, tribulations temptation, persecution. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RidZHDO8SMgC&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=there+will+be+trials+and+hardships%2Bray+comfort&source=bl&ots=-Eu5V73XOu&sig=Fg0Z-R8iYbOwY9rVxOhurqCu960&hl=en&ei=AI2QTuGoOYW98gOKuIgP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false]

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</blockquote>

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Christians of the Comfort type are made to feel guilty and to fear [[Hell]] if they glance at another person and think “Isn’t he/she attractive?” According to Comfort looking at another person with lust is equivalent to adultery and that is just one example of how his followers are guilt tripped. Comfort tells his followers to bring their children up to the same unnatural guilt ridden life that the parents endure. Unsurprisingly those who want people to be happy in this life oppose Ray Comfort’s teachings and he calls that persecution.

Christians of the Comfort type are made to feel guilty and to fear [[Hell]] if they glance at another person and think “Isn’t he/she attractive?” According to Comfort looking at another person with lust is equivalent to adultery and that is just one example of how his followers are guilt tripped. Comfort tells his followers to bring their children up to the same unnatural guilt ridden life that the parents endure. Unsurprisingly those who want people to be happy in this life oppose Ray Comfort’s teachings and he calls that persecution.

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Due to Ray's religious beliefs combined with moral absolutes, Ray persuades people that they are shameful and deserve eternal torment. And on top of that, he often pushes his extreme views (such as opposing actual science and history; a secular Hollywood; homosexual lives; legal abortion; and such) upon other people and try to convince them to get politically active and take action that suits Ray's views.

==View towards Atheists==

==View towards Atheists==

Revision as of 14:21, 13 October 2011

Ray Comfort is a Christianapologist from New Zealand who co-hosts The Way of the Master radio show alongside his partner Kirk Cameron. The name, "Ray Comfort" may lead people to expect a ray of comfort but they get nothing like that. What Ray Comfort brings is constant struggle to live up to moral standards that no human being can reach. Then there is loss of self respect, fear and panic about hell over all inevitable failures.

Comfort's agenda

Ray's scheme is network marketing. The reason why he churns out books, shows, visual recordings and all that other stuff like a gatling gun is because the stuff is ineffective. It needs constant reinforcement, and the self-proclaimed street evangelists Ray sells to don't get that it's the oldest sales trick in the book. They get his stuff, advertise it to others, keep the ball rolling.

Permanent conversion is not Ray's goal, his aim is holding regular customers. The provocative dumbth is part of the method. He needs angry and ridiculing reactions to keep up the image that he's the paladin valiantly battling the unbelieving horde. Since it says in the Bible that he's going to be hated and all that persecution complex stuff, his ignorant sheeple think that he's the confirmation. 'Read the Man Atheism Hates Most! Why, of course they hate him so much because they know he has Truth!' Ray's got it all figured out. Leave your scruples behind you, ground into the dust of the road. Find some country where there are a lot of gullible superstitious people, and $ELL!

Way of the Master

Together with his life mate, Kirk Cameron, Ray produces the Way of the Master series of TV, radio, and internet articles. Unlike some others of the Religious right evidence has not turned up that either is anything other than heterosexual. These peddle the concept that the way to convert people is not with intellectual arguments or clever rhetoric, but to lay a massive guilt trip on them the way the "master" Jebus would have done. Neither Comfort or Cameron has a theological degree and both have no formal training.

To see a list and refutations of these series, see the Way of the Master Template below.

Atheist Central

Most of his arguments against evolution and atheism really aren't worth the time and effort to debunk; he'll just keep coming back with more (or maybe even the same ones). This however hasn't stopped many atheists from flocking to his blog for a laugh. Comfort got so many of these types of readers that he renamed his blog Atheist Central.

The Atheist Central site is a beyond any doubt a site divorced from rationality, reason, academic or scholarly credentials, relevant information, and such. The sites main purpose is to draw in his regular customers to swallow the old repeated lies, just to continue believing in fantasy and delusion rather than accept observable reality. Another function for this site, which is very useful to Ray Comfort, is that he can take any post from an atheist, non-believer, or non-Christian, and use it in his books (he does this quite often). He does not have to leave a source, and often the quote remains anonymous - so we have no certainty that the posts are authentic. The quotes seem to come from godless lay people, and not from people with certain credentials or backgrounds (not that they are required). Finally, given Ray's undeniable history of deliberate quote-mining, Ray may have revised many (or perhaps all) of the quotes, or at least not post the whole post in its entirety.

Beliefs

Ray Comfort cannot make up his mind to preach one single message without contradiction and those who follow him either fail to notice or do not mind the contradiction. These contradictory messages happen because the Bible itself is not clear and free from contradiction. If there were a god who loves us and does not want us to go to hell the very least that god could do would be to give us a clear and unambiguous message about how we can be saved. The Skeptics Annotated Bible gives a list of contradictory Bible accounts trying to answer the question, Is Salvation by faith alone?

Salvation by faith

Ray believes that once someone is born-again God forgives them for all their sins. The following is his words exactly:

"once and for all and the moment you trust in him [Jesus Christ] you are completely justified and made right with God, you are made perfect by God's grace. That has nothing to do with living a good life, pleasing God because you can't because you a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart. The only thing you can do is repent and trust in him. The minute you do, in a heartbeat God justifies you. Cleanses you of your sin and you are born again. God gives you a new heart with a new set of desires and you know you are going to escape death and damnation."

Listen carefully to Ray's last comment. For the moment he admitted that any person can be saved and clean of sin the second that you repent, making Christianity a "Get out of Jail Free Card." Hitler, murderers, rapists, or anyone can be just as wicked as they want their whole life to their last minute. In that last minute, all they have to do is become 'born-again" and God forgives them. Ray believes at least part of the time that the Bible says that we are saved by grace alone and not by works. He quotes Titus and Ephesians 2:8-9, which says that not by works of righteousness, but according to God's mercy. However, if we are saved by grace, then that means that all we have to do to be saved is to convert and repent, no matter what kind of evil we have committed. Murderers, rapists, child molesters can be saved if they repent. Does the Bible say that salvation is by grace alone and not by works? Should we be baptized? Psalm 62:12 says "For you render to each one according to his works." See Bible contradictions.

Jeremiah 17:10 says "I the Lord ... give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."

Matthew 5:20 says "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Btw, the Pharisees followed over 613 laws.

Matthew 16:27 spells it out nicely "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."

Philippians 2:12 says "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

James 2:14 asks "What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?" Later on in James 2:17 it says "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." Near the end, James 2:21-25 "Was not Abraham our father justified by works? You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rabab the harlot also justified by works? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

1 Peter 1:17 says "The Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work."

Revelation 2:23 says "I will give unto every one of you according to your works."

It seems Ray (and Kirk) part of the time cherry-picked one side of the discrepancies to make other branches of Christianity appear foolish to give his faith more credibility. Other branches of Christianity believe that both works and faith is required, some believe God has already predetermined where you end up in the afterlife.

For what Ray says at other times see the next section.

Salvation by works

Other times Comfort insists that in order to be saved a person must stop sinning.

Merely being sorry for your sins, or confessing them to God won't help you. You must turn from sin (repent), [1]

This has turned other Christian fundamentalists against Ray Comfort and made them call Comfort a dammable heretic. Below is Ray Comfort quoted by two opposing websites.

These are perhaps the most frightening verses in the Bible. Vast multitudes of professing Christians fit into the category spoken of here. They call Jesus 'Lord,' but they practice lawlessness. They profess faith in Jesus, but have no regard for the divine law. They tell 'fibs' or 'white' lies, take things that belong to others, have a roaming eye for the opposite sex, etc. They are liars, thieves, and adulterers at heart, who will be cast from the gates of heaven into the jaws of hell. [2][3]

Harm Ray Comfort causes

Ray Comfort tells his followers to accept increased suffering in this life in order he hopes to avoid greater pain after death. Below is just one example of the type of message he gives.

But there is no Biblical precedent for a message of life improvement upon conversion. None. In fact the Bible says you will have trails, tribulations temptation, persecution. [4]

Christians of the Comfort type are made to feel guilty and to fear Hell if they glance at another person and think “Isn’t he/she attractive?” According to Comfort looking at another person with lust is equivalent to adultery and that is just one example of how his followers are guilt tripped. Comfort tells his followers to bring their children up to the same unnatural guilt ridden life that the parents endure. Unsurprisingly those who want people to be happy in this life oppose Ray Comfort’s teachings and he calls that persecution.

Due to Ray's religious beliefs combined with moral absolutes, Ray persuades people that they are shameful and deserve eternal torment. And on top of that, he often pushes his extreme views (such as opposing actual science and history; a secular Hollywood; homosexual lives; legal abortion; and such) upon other people and try to convince them to get politically active and take action that suits Ray's views.

View towards Atheists

Ray Comfort makes no attempt to hide his grudge against atheists and atheism, which is evident through his extensive work focused on opposing atheism. According to Ray "An atheist is someone who believes that nothing made everything. He will deny that through gritted teeth, because it is an intellectual embarrassment. But if he says of his Toyota that he has no belief that there was a maker, then he thinks that nothing made it (it just happened), which is a scientific impossibility. So, to remain credible, he falls back on something made everything, but he just doesn’t know what that something was. So he’s not an atheist–he believes in an initial cause." Ray Comfort encourages all Christians to not be intimidated by atheists because "they're not intelligent, the bible says they're fools." [5]

Of course Comfort got the definition of atheism wrong and this whole thing is set up to make atheists seem like idiots. He uses the false objection to atheism "so you believe in nothing?" This is blatantly false, since an atheist is somebody who does not believe in any gods. Atheism is not a belief system. Even if this first sentence wasn’t meant as a definition, it is factually wrong because Comfort makes the mistake of all atheists share more than just a disbelief in gods. In the academia, the real "intellectual embarrassment" are proponents of creationism, which is Ray Comforts position. Ray's comment about atheists and the origin of the car (or any other man-made objection) is a rework of the argument from design. Not all atheists share the same beliefs, and he makes it seem so evil to admit "he just doesn’t know what that something was." If not enough evidence is provided, it is intellectually honest to say 'I don't know' and Ray falsely believes that response alone makes his position win by default. On the last point, an atheist only needs to lack a belief in god(s), and his/her position on causes of anything are a separate issue. If atheists are not intelligent, then how is it that Comfort's Banana argument got intellectually obliterated to the point Comfort denied he ever made it? So it looks more likely that the Bible was wrong and that many atheists are in no way fools.

Comment: Note regarding Ray's remark that an atheist believes nothing made everything, which is a popular theist view about atheism, is demonstrably wrong. When physicists say "nothing" it is not what most people think they are talking about. As NASA astronomer Dr. Sten Odenwald puts it, " when physicists say 'nothing' they are being playful with the English language, because we often think of the vacuum as being 'empty' or 'nothing' when in fact physicists know full well that the vacuum is far from empty. Nothingness was not nothing, but it was not anything like the kinds of 'somethings' we know about today. We have no words to describe it, and the ones we borrow (that are listed from the Oxford English Dictionary) are based on the wrong physical insight."

"Atheists don't hate fairies, leprechauns, or unicorns because they don't exist," writes Comfort. "It is impossible to hate something that doesn't exist." Ray, nobody claims fairies, leprechauns, and unicorns exist, kills in their name, or fleeces their gullible believers out of their hard-earned money in the name of those creatures. I haven't seen any politicians calling afairyists "the most vile, radical liberals in America" or calling for the teaching of Tinkerbell in schools. No-one is trying to get teachers fired for being "liberal aleprochaunists" or awarding child custody based on which parent will provide the proper instruction in dealing with the wee folk. There's no widespread objection to the teaching of evolution on the grounds that it challenges belief in unicorns (not to mention minotaurs, griffins, werewolves, and so forth.) That's right. They must "know" these things are real, or why else would they bother trying to debunk them? Skeptics only deny what everyone else would consider convincing evidence because they can't handle the truth.

1) Creation: Using a coca-cola can as an example, Ray "theorizes" the origin of the can came from billions of years ago, when there was an unexplainable massive explosion in space, and from it came a rock and on the rock was a brown bubbling pool where after millions of years, aluminum came forth and created itself a tab on the top. Millions of years later, red and white paint fell from the sky and formed the words on the coca-cola can. Ray says nobody would believe that, because we know the coca-cola can had a maker. He then says we also know that the banana must have a maker. Ray Comfort claims that if you find something that was created, there must be a creator. He claims that a building must have a builder and a painting must have a painter, even though you cannot see, touch, smell, hear, or taste him. This to Comfort is scientific proof of a creator and does not require faith to believe in a creator. According to Ray, all you need is eyes that can see and a brain works. Ray asks himself "can we scientifically prove that a painting had a painter?" He replies if we put a dozen scientists in a room with a painting, they will all answer that it indeed had a painter. Ray includes nothing more. He then says the human body is a very complex machine and the eye is perfect so there must be a designer. He then addresses those who are not convinced by his arguments as people who put themselves on an "intellectual pedestal."

Comment: Ray simply does not understand the word "theory," misleading people. His argument is of course a logical fallacy: anything that exists, simply because it exists, must have been deliberately created by an intelligent being for an intended purpose. By his logic, does lightning have a lightning maker? Is Vulcan just o' hammerin' away in his forge and tossing thunderbolts to Zeus??? Ray's argument also includes an argument from design fallacy. We see design and beauty in snowflakes and crystals, but we also know they form under natural causes without invoking the supernatural. The thing is, we can actually test if a painting had a painter and we could verify who it is and how they did it, we can also veryfy information about factories where coca-cola is made. We cannot verify information similarly with God and that is where Ray fails, when he claimed that he would be able to prove the existence of God scientifically. Also, Ray builds an absurd straw man of the Big Bang Theory, abiogenesis, and evolution and falsely thinks that disproving them makes creation win by default. He also tries to mock the intellect and present an ad hominem towards those who don't believe in God by implying that their eyes and brains must not be functional. He insults skeptics as putting themselves on a pedestal, basically Ray's arguments are so feeble that they are simply comical and do not require a lot of thought to see through it, and that is why Ray attacks the intellectual and is trying to prevent the audience from thinking to deeply into things.

2) Conscience: According to Ray, God put within each of us conscience when God made us in his image. This separates us from the other animals since we have the ability to know right from wrong. But, according to Ray, our conscience has "lost its life on the outside" and each of us are "self-admitted blaspheming, lying, thieving, adulterers at heart" and could only be restored by the Ten Commandments. He then goes on using his old tactic of "are you a good person?"

Comment: In this speech, Ray very briefly tells the gospel is the greatest evidence for God anyone could have. The Godspel is typical of the type of Mythology that appeared during the Roman Empire. Ray Comfort is for once fairly close to the truth, there is no better evidence for Christianity than the gospels. The argument about the conscience is of course is based on ignorance of science (zoology, sociology, evolution).
All societal species (including humans) have a sense of compassion and community amongst their kinsmen, friends and fellows which - in many species - leads to acts of devotion, defense, and even self-sacrifice on their behalf.

3) Conversion: According to Ray, if you believe in God and seek him out, you will find him. "That is the ultimate proof."

Comment: What Comfort failed to understand was the same result can be achieved for those who seek out ghosts, aliens, Bigfoot, or any deity "with their whole heart", meaning they have already assumed these things exist without question or prior evidence that they exist in the first place.

The Watchmaker Argument

He will usually say something along the lines of "If I see a watch, it must have been made by a watchmaker, a loaf of bread by a baker, a building by an engineer, a creation by a creator." He will also say "Creation is 100% Scientific proof there was a creator."

Ray, "When you look at a painting, how do you know there was a painter? The painting exists, get it?" ... "And creation proves there's a creator."

This is an example of begging the question, as the point which he's attempting to prove is contained in his premise. Anything created must have a creator, but he hasn't demonstrated that what he means by "creation" (the universe, everything, humans, etc.) is actually a creation. The appearance of design, purpose or complexity alone is not sufficient to posit an intelligent creator. If Comfort could prove a creator -which he cannot- there would be no proof that the creator is the the God of Protestant Christianity.
There could be a creator that is like the God of a different branch of Christianity, like the God of Judaism, or like Allah of the Koran. There are any number of different creation myths and Ray Comfort gives no logical reason for prefering his version of creation to other versions or to scientific explanations of existence.

When he asks questions like, "When you see a building, how do you know there was a builder?", his answer is "The building is absolute proof of the builder." This avoids the important question about how we recognize design. He's relying on common sense and a lack of critical thinking, to support the idea that this is a natural, obvious and reliable assumption.

In truth, we recognize that the building is designed because we have an abundance of evidence that supports that conclusion and no evidence to support the idea that buildings are naturally occurring. We possess, or can attain by research, empirical evidence about the history of a given building; who designed it, who built it, what methods they used, etc. We can also learn about the general history of buildings and other structures, throughout recorded history. All of this evidence, and more, in conjunction with a lack of evidence supporting the idea that buildings occur naturally, lead us to the reliably supported conclusion that a given building had a builder. We're not always consciously aware of this process, as we've come to trust our intuition without constantly analyzing why this trust is deserved.

Considering a human, for example. We know that humans are the result of a natural process (sexual reproduction). Science has proven to be the most reliable method for explaining reality and its reliability supports the position that, until evidence to the contrary is presented, natural explanations exist for all phenomena. Ray, and others, aver that the natural world must have a supernatural, intelligent creator...a position wholly unsupported by evidence.

Additionally, when humans create things, they use pre-existing material. To compare the creation of the universe by a god to the creation of objects by humans is to imply that this god used pre-existing matter to do it. This, of course, still leads one to ask, "where did this matter come from?"

Ray, "I mean, you can prove god Biblically, scientifically, without even pointing to scriptures, without even mentioning faith. We're going to teach people how to do that so we no longer need to feel intimidated by so-called intellectualism."

Despite this claim, neither Ray, nor anyone else, has presented a "scientific" proof of the existence of God. This accomplishment, which may be definitionally impossible, would be the most significant scientific accomplishment in human history. It would be front-page news and the subject of considerable media coverage.

Comfort will seize any admission of imperfection to condemn his interlocutor: stealing a piece of candy from a store when one was a child counts as a "yes" answer to "Have you ever stolen anything?" Comfort's god considers this equivalent to robbing a bank.

Parachute Analogy

Imagine you are on a plane, and suddenly it is going down. You fear for your life and want to be saved. Someone hands you the Mona Lisa, you push it away. Someone offers you keys to a Ferrari, you reject it. Someone offers you a million dollars, you reject it too. Suddenly someone offers you a parachute that can save you. This parachute provided to you from Ray Comfort is faith in Jesus Christ that will save you from a terrible fate.

This however, is an flawed argument known as Pascal's Wager. Ray Comfort says his parachute (provided by his invisible friend) is safe and harmless, but suddenly another passenger tells you "Don't use his parachute, it has holes in it. Use mine provided by my invisible friend." Then a third passenger announces "Only my parachute on this plane works, but my invisible friends demands you pray five times a day for it to work." A fourth passenger announces "My invisible friend slashed all the parachutes on board. He takes care of his chosen people, and as none of you were born into the correct lineage, it’s too bad for you." Some people refuse parachutes and urge others to do the same, because it would interfere with the master plan of the father of their invisible friend (these are the same people who refuse medical care in favor of prayer and faith healing). A fifth person gets up and says "Do not worry if you jump off the plane or die, if you were good in your life you will come back and have a wonderful life" -basically reincarnation. The drama goes on with the rest of the passengers, until you demand to actually see proof of a doomed plane and which parachute does work. Some say you must not demand for evidence and just have faith. Regardless, you inspect the plane and the parachutes. The plane is operating just fine in every way and each parachute has holes in them big enough you can fit your head through them. Some of the parachutes terribly constrict people, harming them. Some parachutes are very old and terribly worn out and could not possibly withstand two seconds the heavy winds. The plane reaches its destination safely, but the drama continues through the terminal, security, all the way out beyond the airport. You learn from airports around the world that many people have harmed many others and themselves due to their faith in their parachute provided by their particular invisible friend.

Regarding the Reincarnation part, Ray and Kirk addressed that belief (and several others) in their episode Why Christianity? They said it is basically a person jumping out of the plane and then being sucked back into the plane. They go on to say Reincarnation will not help you with your sin against God and the reality of Hell. They clearly portray their biased views without proof of sin or Hell, plus their analogy is wrong. If you lived a good life and jump out the plane, you will not get sucked back it, you may turn into an eagle and fly away. Even if you did get sucked back into the plane, you just keep repeating the process over and over. If you are good or not depends which class you get to sit in or what plane you fly (or perhaps what you get served to fulfill your pleasures). While there is no evidence of Reincarnation, there is no proof of Heaven or Hell, and both Ray and Kirk constantly fail to show or present is why their beliefs are more valid than that of a Hindu.

Sometimes Ray uses this analogy but does not reveal the whole scenario that the person is on a plane and will have to jump out soon. When the person answers either the car, money or Mona Lisa, Ray suddenly says "I forgot to tell you, you are in a plane and it's going down, so you have to jump." Basically, he switches the scenario of the analogy all of the sudden, forcing them to choose the parachute. Notice Comfort changes the scenario but keeps the gifts the same. It is easy to change the scenario to force a person to pick the gift you want them to choose. Here is an example: "you are offered the original Mona Lisa, keys to a new Ferrari, a parachute, or ten million dollars. Before you choose, you must get to an important meeting to make ten billion dollars and you need a ride fast." You may pick the keys to the car and drive off. How about this analogy: "same gifts are presented, but you are not on a plane or need to get to a meeting, instead you are in the streets homeless and hungry and you need money to sustain yourself or you will starve." You will probably decide to take the cash. See, it is not hard.

How about if we keep the plane scenario, but we change the gifts. You are in a plane that going down, and someone offers you four gifts, but which one do you choose? You are offered a parachute, a time machine (T.A.R.D.I.S. from Dr. Who), a glider (or if you prefer: a jet pack or hovercraft), or the Iron Man suit (you are practically invincible and Jarvis will help you fly it). All of them will save you from the falling plane. You even have the option to have a skilled pilot who could land the plane safely in a body of water, like the Hudson River. That option works just fine. Or, if you are a Star Trek fan, you can have the pilot radio in for help and have you and all the passengers transported off the plane (but then why would we have planes?). And as long as we are involving Iron Man, you may replace that gift with Batman wings. These are already being tested by the military to be dropped from 30,000 feet (compared to Ray's analogy of 10,000 feet) and can glide up to 120 miles. It is true that the time machine and transporter is not present to us (remember this is just an analogy), but the others gifts are theoretically possible (such as the Iron Man suit or Batman wings) or are already available (like the jet pack or glider). We do have gliders and jet packs that can work. But what about the parachute, we already know it can be efficient in saving us? True, but bear in mind parachutes are not always reliable. Some parachutes do not open, some don't inflate properly, or malfunction. This site shows the statistics of parachute related fatalities. So basically, even when Ray Comfort "puts on the Lord Jesus Christ" he still runs a risk of being demonstrably wrong. There is no guarantee that a parachute will always work and save you.

Rays Parachute argument can also be re-written as the following,

You're on an airplane and you're trying to convince someone to put on a parachute because you know they're going to have to jump out of the plane and fall 25,000 feet. First, you try to convince him that the plane was made by Boeing. Now, this is relevant because you're convinced that Boeing is going to force everyone to jump out of the plane, parachute or not. So you point to the carefully woven fabric on the seat in front of you and claim that it has Boeing's name written all over it. He points out that it doesn't say "Boeing" anywhere on the seat. You reply that it doesn't 'literally' say Boeing, but only Boeing orders fabric like that. He's unconvinced, as he's seen similar fabric before. You then explain that this plane wasn't manufactured like other planes, it was secretly modified to cause seatbelts to malfunction and the side of the plane is rigged to explode at 25,000 feet. He's convinced this is, most likely, an airplane like any other. You say you have evidence, he asks to see it. You pull out the emergency card, and show him Boeing's name, a description of the imminent calamity and instructions for putting on the parachute. He points out that there are mistakes on the card and that other people have different emergency cards with names other than Boeing, some of which don't mention parachutes or calamities. You claim that those are fakes and you have the 'real' emergency card. He's skeptical and asks how you know yours is true. You point out that the emergency card says it's true. He looks under the seat for a parachute and doesn't find one. You explain that he has go up to the cockpit and ask for a parachute by saying the secret phrase, 'I've been a bad boy and need a spanking.' He tries this and is met with blank stares and confusion. You tell him that he didn't try hard enough...He asks the flight attendant if he can move to another seat.

Gospel Tracks

Ray Comfort and Way of the Master produce many gospel tracks, all of which produce similar or exactly the same repeated argument presented by Ray Comfort in his books and Way of the master episodes. Ray tries to make the tracts appear appealing and desirable, tricking the public to take them and read them later. for instance, Ray prints gospel tracts on optical illusions, fake million dollar bills, penny presses, and such.

Interestingly, Ray includes in Part 8 that a Christian should be baptized. This is important, since Ray constantly says all salvation requires is repentance and saved by grace, not be works. But right here, he shows that Christians should be baptized.

1. What is the most common food that people choke to death on in American restaurants?

2. What is the Number One killer in the U.S.?

The most common food that people choke to death on in American restaurants is hard-boiled egg yolk, and the Number One killer in the U.S. is death. There is a lot of it around.

Response: First and obvious thing to point out: DEATH IS NOT A KILLER. Ray seems to personify a non-human entity. By definition, killing is causing physical and fatal action upon a living thing. Death does not think nor does it go out of its way to eliminate people. Death for humans is simply the end of the metabolic process in the brains. The bottom line is, death does not kill, rather it is the end result after life expiration. It would be like claiming steam coming from a pot of boiling water is the cause of the breakage of bonds between hydrogen and oxygen. Wrong, steam did not cause the destruction of the water molecules, rather steam is simply the after result of process.

And just for the record, according to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. If only Comfort bothered to take a moment of research, he could have figured this out in less than 30 seconds.

The Atheist Test - Ray Comfort likes to brag that over a million of these have been printed. The booklet contains the following arguments: the coca-cola can/creation argument from above; as well as the Banana argument; the eye seems designed; the Charles Darwin on the eye quote mine; a quote from George Gallup and Albert Einstein - each hinting that they detect intelligent design in the body or universe; creation requires a creator; would randomly dropped fruit line up in order and organized?; order in the universe points to an intelligent mind/designer; saying "there is no God" is a absolute statement that requires absolute knowledge; since man knows less than 1% of everything, is it possible exists in the 99% we don't know?; the television and radio wave analogy; the are you a good person? tactic; finally, Jesus came to save us, so repent and hit your knees.

Response: Believe it or not, this is Ray Comfort's favorite hand to play. Just about every piece is repeated in every debate, book, show, and such. Whether known or not to Ray Comfort, each of these arguments have been utterly refuted a thousand times for many many years. For instance, is it possible that God exists in the 99% we don't know? Is it possible that God does not exist in the 99% we don't know? Theoretically, an infinite number of deities of many versions could exist in the 99% we don't know. Fortunately, what we DO KNOW gives us plenty of reason to dismiss nonsensical belief in god. As for Ray, and many other theists, who use this argument, their position holds no more weight than a crazy lunatic rambling on top a soap box.

Also, does saying "there is no god" require absolute knowledge? Well, Ray Comfort shamelessly states that he knows there IS a God, and yet for many years has failed terribly to provide any verifiable proof for his God. By definition, knowledge is demonstrative, so if you cannot show it then you do not know it. This is why Ray is often told to put up or shut up, but everything he brings nothing new to the table, despite all his arguments being long refuted while simultaneously ignoring all evidence that contradicts and refutes his position and views.

180, the Movie

Coming September 26, 2011 Ray plans to release a 33 minute video aimed to "reverse" people who hold a pro-choice stance to become staunch anti-abortionists. The video appears to be dozens of instances of Ray Comfort randomly interviewing public strangers and convincing them that abortion is bad. Ray Comfort argues that this "reverse" of views can be done in an argument that takes about 33 seconds on average. The actual argument is not included in the trailers, but spoilers say that the argument goes something like this: Hitler killed Jews. Abortion is like the Holocaust. Therefore abortion is bad.

Ray plans to release this video online for all to view, as well as distributing 200,000 DVD copies freely on 100 university campuses across the United States. However, as PZ Meyers noted, this is more than just another "Creation Intro to Origin of Species" stunt, but this video is a "begging video."[6] It appears that Ray Comfort is asking for mass donations to help spread this video first before trying to save the babies.

Movie walk through

The movie starts off with Ray Comfort, only telling the audience that he is Jewish, and trying to remind people of the history of the Holocaust. Ray says that in Germany, it is illegal to give the Nazi salute and in Austria it is illegal to deny the Holocaust. Ray says that in both countries, they have a mandatory history of the Holocaust so its children can learn from the past and not be doomed to repeat it.

Comment: Why does Ray say he is Jewish? Sympathy? Does he consider himself a Jew for Jesus, or a born-again Christian? He constantly say that he is a born-again Christian, so why call himself Jewish? Does he think being Jewish is a race? Does he fast and not eat pork? Is he circumcised? Nowhere in any of his material does he say that he follows any of these things. It is most likely Ray has no idea what it means to be Jewish.

Ray then goes around asking over a dozen of lay people who Adolf Hitler was, and none of them have a clue. Finally, in Huntington Beach, Ray encounters a neo-Nazi named Steve who hates Jews and blacks, and believes that Christianity is a Jewish lie. (Ray tricks him with the "Spell the word shop. What do you do at a green light?" trick.) Steve does not believe Hitler killed as much people as reported, but regardless he does not think Hitler was evil.

Next, Ray asks several people who Hitler was, they get it generally right, until finally back in Huntington Beach, Ray meets a German man who denies the Holocaust and admires Mein Kampf, as well as thinks Jews run America.

Ray then asks several people one of his favorite question: it's 1939, you have a high-powered rifle and Adolf Hilter is in your sights Do you take him out? They show two people, both answer yes. Next question It is about 30 years earlier, Hitler's mother is pregnant with Adolf, would you take her out? Only two people are shown, both answer yes.

Next show several pictures of piles of dead people from the Holocaust. Ray then comes in and says "Adolf Hilter hated Christianity, he called it a disease and one point said 'the heaviest blow which ever stuck humanity was Christianity' and adding 'it was the invention of the Jew.' He killed and imprisoned genuine pastors and replaced them with his own Nazi pastors. He also replaced the Cross with swastika. Printed over a thousand copies of his own twisted Bible. He rewrote the Ten Commandments and then created his own Aryan anti-Sematic non-Jewish Jesus. But most importantly, all this sprung from the fact that Hitler had created his own image of God, or as what the Bible calls an idolater. He had another God before the God of the Bible. Like Judas Iscariot, he professed to be a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, but his motive was for his own evil agenda. And that agenda was very clear, he said 'he alone who owns the youth gains the future.' Adolf Hitler deceived the youth of Germany, he deceived many within the traditional church, but most of all he deceived the millions of Germans who believed his lie of the supremacy of the German race." (Quoting Hitler; "The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but not human. They cannot be human in the sense of being made in the image of God..." -Adolf Hitler, May 1923 speech, Munich). "History tells us that one man who is present when the Nazis killed 16,000 Jews on April 6, 1942. he witnessed them being shot and then buried alive." Quote from Michael Berrenhaum from The World Must Know

Comment: Adolf Hitler adopted Christianity, he was a baptized Roman Catholic and remained so to his last day. ray does not give any source for Hitler calling Christianity a "disease" or "blow to humanity." Hitler closely followed the words of Martin Luther, a famous Protestant Christian who hated the Jews.

Hitler imprisoned anyone for criticizing his agenda for global dominance and genocide, this included pastors, scientists, teachers, lawyers, everybody. Hitler did not imprison pastors just because they were Christian, rather he did so because they were obstacles.

"He also replaced the Cross with swastika." This is complete and utter nonsense and an outright lie. Hitler posted the Cross all over his armies uniforms, merits and awards (proof posted here). Hitler and the Nazi party buried their dead and posted crosses on their graves. The Leo Schlageter memorial, a martyr for the German cause, was towered by a huge cross to commemorate him.

When and where did Hitler EVER re-write the Ten Commandments? Where? Did he display his own version of the Ten Commandments in public squares? Or did Ray just pull that out of his ass?

Ray then ask his other favorite question: Its 1937, and you have a German officer with a machine pointed at you, and he orders you to get into the bulldozer and bury a bunch of Jews in a pit (some are still alive). You know that if you say no, the German officer will shoot you and some else will do the burial. Would you do what he says? Ray asks several people, some say they don't know, some say no, and some say yes. To the people who said yes, Ray asks them If the German officer gave you his gun (with many other Nazi soldiers pointing their guns at you) and the German officer does not want you to bury the Jews, but rather shoot them all down. Would you do it? Some say no, they could not do that - to which Ray points out that shooting them is more merciful, but they are willing to bury them alive?

Based on all this, Ray asks the people if they value human life? Right after they say yes, Ray asks them how they feel about abortion. Some say they are pro-choice, its a tricky subject, even one person who said she was pro-life but understood that opinions and views change until you are in the situation.

Ray then addresses the "is it a human?" question. Ray shows a picture of a baby in the womb 6 weeks and 6 days old - showing the babies eyes, hands and heartbeat. Ray then asks people if they think it is a baby in the womb? When they say yes, Ray asks them to finish the sentence "its okay to kill a baby in the women when..." On the issue of when does life start, Ray puts himself in a scenario "I'm a construction worker and i am going to blow that building up. I don't know if there is life in there, but I am going to blow it up anyway. What would you say to me?"

Comment: Why only show a baby at 6 weeks old? If you are going to address the "is it human" question, why start near the end instead of the beginning?

Ray preys on the person's subjective opinions on when a fetus is a baby - if they consider it a baby at all - and then those who do think it is a baby he puts them in a scenario. Rather than ask a doctor or a any expert, he merely relies on the feelings of lay people. Typical. And why only ask "it is okay to kill a baby in the womb..." as if in all scenarios, no matter how old or developed it is, it is always a baby as if it is is ready to come out.

As Ray said himself in his program The Greatest Gamble (Way of the Master), a person's priorities change depending on the situation. This means morality is not absolute as Ray likes to believe it is, rather it is flexible and depends on the situation. Since Ray knows that priorities change, he also must know that what he is selling is also bogus.

After Ray takes people through the killing Jews and burying them question, and when they say they would refuse to cooperate, Ray then tells them and yet they won't speak up against abortion. Ray brings up the Commandment "Thou Shall Not Kill" and Hitler declared Jews as non-humans, as well as arguing that saying life begins at three months is "subjective." Ray says Christians should be very "dogmatic against abortion."

Comment: If saying life begins a t x amount of time is "subjective" then who is Ray Comfort to come along and insert that his subjective views are accurate?

Btw, the Commandment "Thou Shall Not Kill" is pretty pointless when it comes to Christians and Christianity. God is well known for killing women and children, and women bearing children. Jesus encouraged men to become eunuchs, with eliminates life just as effectively as abortion (and yes, many of the earliest church fathers did castrate themselves).

Ray says that a Holocaust is being committed in America that is sanctioned by the government. Women with the freedom of choice are killing babies and doing it so legally, similar to how Hitler killed Jews legally. Ray says adoption is a "wonderful option."

After Ray asks several people if their stances on abortion changed, when they say yes, he then asks are they going to vote accordingly? They say yes.

After interviewing people, asking them if they could think of a situation when killing an unborn baby is justified, they could not think of one. Following that, the video displays the following: Unborn babies killed in the American Holocaust in the first 37 years after Roe v. Wade: 53,310,843. (Based on numbers reported by the Guttmacher Institute, 1973-2008, with estimates of 1,212,400 for 2009-2010.)

Comment: There are about 4.4 million confirmed miscarriages every year in America. [7] Based on the stats, since 1973 there have been 167.2 million miscarriages, practically three times as many abortions. And yet, these are abortions that happen spontaneously. Miscarriages are abortions by definition.

Is God against abortion? Is God pro-life? Certain passages in the Bible say not at all, but lets look at some statistics and then apply some logic. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving (and Ray says God cannot lie) and yet God is supposedly in control of everything. If God does have a great divine plan and knows everything, plus the Bible says "you saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before began to breathe. Everyday was recorded in your book. (Psalm 139:16)", so God planned your exact time of birth and death. So according to Christianity, regardless of who your parents are, God had a plan in creating you. God plans everything. This means God plans all abortions. God planned "before you were born" eons ago and then selected in advance exactly when you would die. This means the mother who has an abortion is blameless, the doctor who performs the abortion is blameless, and Christians who are are fighting abortions (like Ray Comfort) are attempting thwart God's plan.

Ray says "Adolf Hitler hated the Ten Commandments and wanted to free people from them. He called the ten Commandments the 'curse of Mt. Sinai' and said the God of the Bible is a 'tyrant' who order people to do the things we don't want to to. Clearly, Hitler did not like the thought of You Shall Not Kill because it did not fit into his hate-filled worldview. (Scene shows Steve) Although he is an extreme example, it is common practice to have a low moral standard when we free ourselves from the Ten Commandments or when we are unaware of their true meaning. (Playing soft piano music) It's encouraging to realize that people are willing to change their minds about abortion. When people see things from a different perspective, they are able to think clearly and make honest and intelligent choices. As I spoke to people about abortion, our conversation often lead to the issue of morals. Where morals came from, and ultimately, the issue of the afterlife."
(The movie showed the full quote as: "history will recognize our movement as a great battle for humanity's liberation, a liberation from the curse of Mt. Sinai...[God is] a tyrant who orders one to do the very things one doesn't like." Source taken from The Ten Commandments: Ten Short Novels of Hitler's War Against the Moral Code by Armin L.. Robinson (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943), xiii.)

Comment: The piece where Ray says Hitler hated the Ten Commandments and sought to destroy the "curse of Mt. Sinai" comes straight from Herman Rauschning, a ex-Nazi who claims to have recorded several conversations he had with Hitler. So rather than Ray actually using words from Hitler himself, he realies on the testimonies of other people who later sought to demonize the Nazi party. Also, many critical historians also hold that many of his works are fakes.

"...it is common practice to have a low moral standard when we free ourselves from the Ten Commandments" any sane person calls bullshit here. America only follows two of the SECULAR commandments, that's it. Most nations follow similar laws, but these are not divine laws they are simply laws made to ensure the survival and stability of a nation.

"When people see things from a different perspective, they are able to think clearly and make honest and intelligent choices." this coming from the guy who refused to look at Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam from a different (or neutral) perspective to make honest and intelligent choices. Rather he always looked at them through the presumption that Christianity is true. He does the same thing for everything, no matter what it is. Never once does he look at any issue from a rational perspective.

Scene switches to Ray asking people if they think there is an afterlife? Some people say yes or no, but right afterwards Ray takes them down (you knew this was coming).. the are you a good person? tactic. Ray tells some of them why they deny God, because when Ray finds them guilty he states that they don't want to be held morally accountable so they deny God's existence. Afterward Ray sells the snake oil. He says to the guilty they can be saved if they accept Jesus.

The movie ends with Ray and a speech "Shortly after the war ended, the American military made those living near the concentration camps go through them. They wanted them to see first-hand what caused the smoke to billow through the chimneys of those camps and witness what they had allowed in the power to have done. Notice their light-hearten in demeanor as they enter the camp, obviously unaware of the horror taken place in their own backyard. And look on the change of their faces as they had realized what had actually taken place. No doubt there is an abortion clinic near you. Perhaps you should pay them a visit to see actually takes place behind their walls so you can witness firsthand what is happening in your own backyard. (Scene shows the various prices of an abortion clinic, then switch back to the picture of a 6 week old baby in the womb). Over 50 million babies have been murdered in America's Holocaust, sanctioned by political leaders who have been put into power by the American people. Please, never ever give your vote to any politician who advocates the murder of a child in the womb." Ray then tells the viewer to go to www.heartchanger.com for details and to help spread the video around. The video ends stating this was all based on Ray Comfort's new book "Hitler, God & the Bible" along with a message: "We strongly condemn the use of violence in connection with protesting abortion. Please consider purchasing this video in bulk and giving it to others."

Comments on movie

Basically, this is one big emotion-appealing, rational-free propaganda piece built on the foundation of false-equivocation. Not once did anyone (not even the lay people) bring up the issue of ectopic pregnancy, which is a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo implants outside the uterine cavity. Usually, a fertilized egg travels down the fallopian tube, heading for the uterus. In about one in 50 pregnancies, the tube is damaged or blocked enough that the egg can't progress, leading it to implant elsewhere. Usually implantation happens in the tube itself. This leads to ectopic pregnancies. Ectopic pregnancies are critically dangerous to the mother, and just one of the many conditions that can lead to the danger of the death of the mother. Ectopic pregnancies cannot be saved. For the mother's safety, it must be ended. If not caught or treated, the ectopic pregnancy will progress with the embryo growing until the tube ruptures. Severe abdominal pain and bleeding will result and can cause permanent damage to the tube, which may be lost. If not treated, the mother will die.

Is Ray Comfort seriously saying that in certain circumstances such as this, nothing should be done and let both the child and mother be left to die? On the Way of the Master radio, Ray Comfort agreed with cohost Mark Spence that the best option for ectopic pregnancies was to get three different professional opinions, and even when they all agree it is an ectopic pregnancy, they say to wait it out.[8] Spence says this happen to his wfe, and even after 3 doctors told himit was an ectopic pregnancy, he made the decision himself to wait (his wife obeyed him), and later the doctr cme back and said that the x-rays misread the situation, and the pregnancy took place and they had their child. Basically, risk your wife's life to the very end to when it may be too late to save her. If she dies, it was not the husband's fault, God willed it to be so. In a separate show, they asked the question why does God kill babies in the form of miscarriages?[9] They answered, God kills babies because he does whatever he wants. Seriously, that was their answer. They basically use the old cop-out 'God is mysterious' and 'God's reason is infinitely greater than ours.'

Also, in the movie, on the issue if the mother was raped and wants to get rid of it, Ray says the following: "Why punish the child for the sins of the father?" IS ANYBODY HOME!!!!! God punishes humanity for the sake of Adam (the supposed father of us all). Why should we be punished before w are even born or took our first breath of air? We did nothing wrong, we did not elect Adam, in God's eyes the child should be punished for the sins of the father.

Speaking of the Bible, where was it in this movie? Ray Comfort only focused on accomplishing making people feel like hypocrites, but excludes the Bible from the reasoning. Ray only brings up one Commandment, but how about the bible as a whole? Ray does not explain why the 6th Commandments is objectively right, rather he argues from reason that excludes Scripture. While the Commandments says not to kill, the word kill implies when a life is taken, and for life to be taken there has to be life present. What has not been established in the movie is when the fetus is considered "alive" in the womb. Ray only shows a picture of a fetus as 6 weeks old, but nothing before that. If Ray thinks that just the first one or two developing cells of the fetus are "alive" then by that logic every time Ray scratches his nose he commits a Holocaust of killing cells. We know that for a person to be alive they need a brain, but a fetus does not start off with a brain at all. While it may live off its mother, but so does a woman's kidneys. They are both brainless and thus not completely alive, and no one gets upset when a person chooses to donate a kidney.

Ray focuses on making his argument based on the "feelings" of people, but when people speak their "feelings" about God and what he his or what he wants, Ray says "Your feelings don't matter. God's word is his word." When Ray asked if the person being interviewed if they would shoot Hitler's mother while she was pregnant with Adolf, and when they say yes he does not stop to say "HOLD ON! Are you saying you would kill an innocent woman? Hitler killed all those people, not his mother." Is Ray saying killing pregnant German women alright? This is why Ray's argument fails, he is using people situational ethic on Hitler and the Nazis, but not the same for abortion. This demonstrates a sever inconsistency on Ray's part. Plus, if a person walks away and has a different view of abortion based on their feelings, then their feelings can easily change 180 degrees back when they finally find themselves in a bad situation and they choose abortion.

Criticism of Evolution

Ray Comfort strongly opposes the theory of evolution. Ray calls evolution many things, from a "fairy tale for grown ups" to evolution being a farce; intellectual-free zone; bogus science; and many more slanderous words without any support for his claims. The majority of Comfort's arguments are the typical creationist arguments that have been refuted a thousand times. However, some of his arguments against evolution have been incredibly feeble and so outright ridiculous, some have speculated that perhaps he does not believe what he actually says.[10] Perhaps Ray is just saying it because his followers want evolution to be false so badly and they will flock to any person who finds an argument against it, subscribe to him, and even pay him to lie to them. Whether or not he really believes his own arguments is irrelevant: false information is false information. If Ray knows that he is deliberately being dishonest, shame on him - especially when he goes around the world accusing the public and total strangers of being filthy liars who deserve eternal torment. If truth cannot help a person like Ray Comfort become an honest decent person, then neither will Jesus Christ (so already most of us can ignore the empty promises tossed around by people like Comfort that Jesus will make us a better person if we accept him).

Ray has made many attempts to refute his perspective of evolution in his books, videos, programs and constantly on his blog Atheist Central. Of course Ray does not have a slight general understanding of evolution, nor does he make any attempts to properly learn it correctly. At one point, Ray compared evolution to the Cinderella story of a pumpkin turning into a chariot. To this day, he falsely links the Big Bang theory and abiogenesis with evolution as if they are one in whole or they are dependent on the other, but the fact is they are separate fields and do not require the others to stand on their own. Ray Comfort has made multiple arguments that are pro-creation, such as the argument from design and "Creation requires a creator," however this section will only address his worst anti-evolution arguments. A large portion of his objections against evolution are argument from ignorance, god of the gaps and argument from incredulity -where Ray tries to ask chicken or egg questions to combat evolution. One example: "as blood began to evolve, it couldn't get around the body, so he evolved a heart to pump it around. The heart would take a long time to evolve, and it also needed a complex system of blood vessels to evolve. So survival was impossible for the first pre-human primitive life form. But that doesn’t matter to an atheist. It just happened. Evolution-did-it." Here Ray just shamelessly pulls things like this out of thin air. It is obvious that he did zero research of the earliest living organisms and how did blood first flow. Some animals and organisms are alive without blood, such as the jellyfish and plants. Some animals have blood but no heart. But keep this in mind, blood has to change too. Not all blood has ever been the same as human blood. How did the blood transfer through the body without a heart? Every organism has some muscle-like functions to spread things inside the body, such as digestion. The first veins may not be as veins as we picture them, but as some form of muscle that would assist in blood flow. After many generations when the species grow in size, it makes sense that a device that would help move the flow of blood (like the heart) would be very advantageous so those without it would tend not to compete well.

Ray repeats a lot of common dishonest creationist arguments, such as "there are no transitional fossils at all" and the constantly uses the word "kind." On his blog, Ray describes "kind" as,

"Kind," in creationist jargon, generally refers these days to groups larger than a species but still thought to be related by common descent, such as entire genera or families (e.g. the "cat kind"). There are "species-to-species" transitions in the fossil record (e.g. Stephen Gould described a sequence of transitional fossils between two species of the snail genus Cerion), but presumably if you bothered to consider that rather than simply regurgitate your standard list of slogans, you dismiss this example as "they're still snails" (which of course is on some other creationist's list of standard slogans). Since "kind" is undefined, it's difficult to find a good example of a "kind-to-kind" transitional series....The fault isn’t with the definition of the word "kind." It hasn't changed in the slightest. One more time; here’s the definition: dog-kind, cat-kind, horse-kind, snail-kind, human-kind, etc. The atheist's difficulty is with the so-called evidence for evolution. There isn't any."[11]

In this quote, Ray admits transitional fossils do exist (contradicting himself) but he is either ignorant or wilfully ignorant of the transitional fossils between two distinct animals such as land animals and whales. There are numerous transitional fossils between genera's and families, however, Ray Comfort's faith demands that he willingly dismiss them outright. Although, if Ray accepts that transitional fossils exist between snails, but still calls them snails, then he must accept that transnationals exist amongst apes and he should call humans apes. No matter how much Ray will deny it, the fact is human beings are apes just as tigers are cats.

However, Ray has build an extensive list of ridiculous arguments on his own. At the top of Ray's ridiculous arguments against evolution is the banana. Another favorite of his is trying to disprove evolution with mating seasons. He used the dog as an example on Pat Robertson's show: there is a big bang, life forms, and after millions of years a dog evolves. It is the first dog. He has got legs, tail, teeth, eyes - and it's good he has good he has eyes because he has to look for a female, he has been blind for millions of years but now he can see. He has got to find a female. She has got to be evolved at the right place at the right time with all the reproductive organs and a desire to mate. Because without a female, he is a dead dog. Is that how Darwin described it? Is that how any evolutionary scientist ever described it? Absolutely not. What Ray fails to understand to this day is that the female (not the male) is the foundation of the species and animals certainly do not live for millions of years and then suddenly grow features along with a mate that comes from nowhere. And yet Ray is perfectly fine to believe that the wives of Cain and Seth just appeared out of nowhere and certain biblical figures (like Adam and Noah) lived for several hundred to thousands of years.

Debate with the Rational Response Squad

On May 5, 2007, RRS co-founder Brian Sapient and RRS member Kelly O'Connor participated in a live debate aired on Nightline with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. Comfort and Cameron claimed they were able to show the existence of their god without the use of the Bible and faith (spoiler: they were wrong).

How to Bring Your Children to Christ..& Keep Them There: Avoiding the Tragedy of False Conversion

Out of the Comfort Zone

Overcoming Panic Attacks

The World's Greatest Preachers

Wesley Gold

What Did Jesus Do? : A Call to Return to the Biblical Gospel

How to Live Forever Without Being Religious

What Hollywood Believes: An Intimate Look at the Faith of the Famous

Thanks a Million!

Hollywood Be Thy Name

Russia Will Attack Israel

Ray Comfort is gonna die

Apparently Ray Comfort fantasises about his own death from time to time and imagines his last words will be badgering everyone else about Jesus the way he has during so much of his life. As PZ Myers explains people on the point of death are generally more involved in struggling for breath than in telling everyone else how to run their lives. [12]

Advice for atheists offered these jackets
It may at first be a problem for a prominent atheist when Ray Comfort suddenly offers a jacket that is uncalled-for and quite possibly not in a style that the atheist likes to wear. The chances are the jacket does not fit either, after all Ray has not taken measurements. If the atheist refuses the jacket Comfort probably hopes to make money selling it on E-Bay.

The person targeted could try accepting the jacket and having a Darwin fish or other atheist message tooled into the leather, alternatively a talented artist could paint atheist material onto the jacket with indelible ink. Prominent atheists of the type targeted by Comfort have plenty of contacts and should easily find other atheists with the necessary skills. A jacket by Ray Comfort but with an atheist message is really cool, so the fortunate recipient now has the choice between keeping it and showing people or selling the jacket at atheist conferences, on B-Bay, wherever.

This leather working should be encouraged as, unlike his other work, here Ray is actually contributing to society.